Stepping on Butterflies
by Fauks
Summary: What if? Interesting question isn't it? I'm certain that every being capable of conscious thought has asked themselves this question at one time or another. What if the world were round instead of flat? What if there is land to the west? What if we could touch the stars? What if... You get the idea. Pairings undecided, Kind of a self-insert. OC-Centric. Follows canon mostly.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

What if? Interesting question isn't it? I'm certain that every being capable of conscious thought has asked themselves this question at one time or another. What if the world were round instead of flat? What if there is land to the west? What if there is more to the world than the land we walk upon? What if we could touch the stars? What if… You get the idea.

Everything we have ever created or earned has started with a "What if?" Now, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you this. Well, I'm actually attempting to pull off one of those mysterious and philosophical introductions that you see in all the really good stories. Have I succeeded? Grabbed your attention? Maybe, it doesn't actually matter, because I'm going to tell you my story anyway. Now where was I? Oh, right! What if, ah there's that question again, what if I told you that there is more than one dimension? What if I told you that I have been to a different dimension, or that others have been to these different dimensions? I'm going to tell you about my experiences in this new dimension that you have probably heard of before.

I suppose at this point I'm supposed to tell you what the mysterious dimension is called… but where's the fun in that? Nah, you'll figure it out soon enough. So our adventure starts with the wail of two newborn babies, the happy smile of a new father, and the tired grin of a new mother…

[Break]

…I was cold, very cold, almost like when you open the door in winter and the heat leaves your body faster than you can say "Hypothermia". My thoughts were all jumbled; I could remember small bits of memories and information and had a steady influx of even more. At first it was just little things, the faces of people I knew were my friends, looking out at what I knew to be a classroom full of inattentive students, the triumphant grin only a thief who lives on the streets could wear, and the one that came the easiest, intense pain in my abdomen and the middle of my chest. All these things I could remember, and a bit more, but when my thoughts turned toward where I currently was I just drew a blank.

I attempted to open my eyes and take in my surroundings but, frustratingly, my body wouldn't respond to my commands. I panicked, _where am I? Why won't my body move the way I want it to? Why am I so cold? What's with the yelling?_ As much as I hate to admit it, I had absolutely no idea what to do in this situation, so I followed my instincts. I wailed, my mouth wouldn't form words, my arms flailed wildly, and I couldn't support my own head. It didn't occur to me, at that moment, to wonder why my instincts told me to cry, but it definitely struck me when the voice that left me was that of a baby. I felt myself being placed onto a softer surface and instantly stopped my crying. Safe, warm, strong, all of these emotions and feelings were instinctually associated with the embrace I found myself in. I could hear screaming, but wasn't exactly sure where it was coming from, my senses were obviously out of practice. I focused all of my attention on opening my eyes; if I could see then I would be able to figure out where I was and what to do next.

After what felt like an eternity, but was actually only a few heartbeats of valiant struggling, I opened my eyes. What I saw was not at all what I expected, instead of the colors and fine detail I usually saw it was almost like what I imagine being color-blind is like. I could see the fuzzy outline of different shapes and distinguish between light and dark, but it was not at all the same as I could remember it. My eyes began to burn and I closed them again in an attempt to sooth them.

I tried to remember my name, what I did last, any family, anything; this inevitably lead to my first question, _who am I?_ I struggled for a moment before my mind caught up to me and provided me with part of the information I sought. _I'm a student, an aspiring physicist. What had I been doing last? _That thought came with the memory of the excruciating pain in my chest again.

The pain was overloading my sense. I could taste bile, see purple and dark blue squiggles dotting my blacked-out vision, hear a cacophony of loud and disturbing noises, smell curdled milk and rotten eggs, and felt like my entire body was on fire. I stopped thinking about the memory and focused on the soft cooing noises coming from my "father."

All the horrible sensations stopped abruptly and I felt my tiny body breathing much easier. Along with the disappearance of the pain came an "itch" that started in my gut and slowly started to spread throughout my body. I suddenly felt the "itch" outside my body as well, almost like a sixth sense, I felt it in the air I was breathing, radiating off the things around me that I was now recognizing as people. I began to reach out towards this strange new feeling when I was interrupted by the wail of another child.

Immediately after the wailing that signified the other child entering the world started, I felt the air moving against my skin as if I were moving. The wailing got closer until, finally, I felt my father pick up the other child in his other arm and my feet brushing against it. There was a pause, I vaguely heard the people in the room making more sounds, almost like communication, before I felt the itch increase to an unbearable amount for an instant and then return to normal.

The next few moments are foggy in my memory, the only thing that has stuck with me is the sheer terror I felt at the size and feel of the "itch" coming off whatever was near my father, it was dark, evil, tainted, and just _wrong_. I remember the feeling of my father putting me down, lots of screaming and other loud noises, before I felt my father touch my stomach and then pain before I lost consciousness.

[Break]

When I awoke, I could feel that I was different, my thoughts were clearer, I could move my arms and legs just a little more, and the itch was worse. I could hear the murmurs of a child next to me and a soft surface underneath me, not unlike that of a bed. I couldn't move myself, and I could only feel one person in the room, who obviously wasn't paying much attention to us, so I focused on the itch that I could feel in my body. It was at this moment, while studying it closely, that I realized the itch was moving all throughout my body, almost as if it were a substance instead of a feeling. I was never particularly good at biology, but from what I could remember of the flow of blood and how it travels through the body, this felt remarkably similar. I wondered if they might be connected, or if it _was_ blood and for some reason I could feel it. I was incapable of communicating with the one person in the room or the child next to me, and there wasn't much else I could do, so I waited and attempted to figure out my surroundings through my other senses, rather unsuccessfully I might add. Eventually I bored myself to sleep.

It is remarkably difficult to judge time without being able to see light, or move, or really interact with the world around you at all. The days blended together as I slowly got used to the body I was in. At some point my mind organized my past memories and I realized I had all of them except for the last week before I woke up in the mess that is my current life. It hurt when I realized that I may never see any of my friends ever again, I would say family as well but, I didn't have any.

After I was finally able to keep my eyes open for decent stretches of time and I could see colors, I began observing everything I could see, starting with the child that lay next to me. He was swathed in light blue blankets so, naturally, I could come to the conclusion that the child was in fact my brother. I first noticed his full head of wild, bright blond hair. It struck me, as my eyes roamed his face, that he was staring right back at me with the same calculating and piercing gaze that I imagine was on my own face. His bright blue eyes were adorable and I then noticed the three whisker marks on each of his cheeks, this seemed rather odd to me, but I just marked it off as being a strange birth-mark, maybe it ran in the family that I now found myself being a part of.

After I got over the wonder of finally observing the new place I was in I quickly became bored with the room. The single person that spent most of his days here with us, an old man in strange robes and an oddly familiar, triangular hat, didn't move us often, and when he did it was only to change us or to hold us and walk around the room. A few times I caught glimpses of the world outside through the windows, and what I saw was very unnerving.

I could see a cliff face through the window near my brother's and my shared crib. Normally this wouldn't be anything spectacular, but the cliff face had something odd on it. When I caught my first glimpse of it I thought that it was Mt. Rushmore, but upon closer inspection I realized that the faces were all wrong and I searched for memories that might tell me what it was; what I found did not make me feel any better. I remembered when I had started "middle school" back in my old life I had discovered what we called "manga". Honestly, I first thought of them as comic books that were just made in a different place, but that's not important. What _is_ important is one of the manga's that I read, one by the title of "Naruto". It was a story about a loud, obnoxious kid with a demon sealed in his gut that wanted to be a "ninja", which was like the equivalent of the military in their world. The kid wasn't treated very well and his only friends were his school teacher and the leader of his "village", a guy in weird robes and a triangular hat, see were I'm going with this?

At first I tried to deny it, but all of the facts I knew to be true were proving me wrong. I questioned my sanity for a little while, then I wondered if maybe this were a dream but shot that down quickly because it felt too real and I had slept multiple times. Eventually it became too much and I decided to take a page out of my favorite character's book and take a nap, I'd just deal with it later.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_"…but aunty Lyss you _have_ to come over! It's my birthday!"_ _I heard through my phone as I walked through the city. It was my favorite nephew's birthday today and I was going to surprise him by taking him to see a movie while I was in town._

_ "Alright brat, I suppose I can stop in for a bit." My ear was suddenly flooded with the sound of cheering as I listened to the brat rush to tell my older sister about my pending arrival. I couldn't quite keep the grin off my face as I listened to him stumble over his words in his rush to get them out. I heard my sister laugh and him whine about her taking the phone from him._

_ "So I hear the favorite woman in my son's life is gracing us with her presence? Decided to let you come home and celebrate your promotion, Corporal Evans?" I stepped off the sidewalk to walk across the street and towards my sister's place._

_ "Yeah I'm right out-"my sentence was interrupted by the sound of a blaring horn and everything went white._

I shot up into a sitting position in my bed, covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. I listened, for a moment, to the constant buzzing of my alarm clock as I caught my breath. This was one of the many dreams I'd had about my past life since I found myself in what I'd taken to calling the "Naruto-verse". They were usually scattered fragments of memories, but lately they'd become more structured and longer memories, like having an argument with my mother about going to college, or spending time with my nephew, or my military training. This memory though, this one I'd been trying to recall almost since I was "re-born" into my new life as Mikan Uzumaki.

Shortly after the day of my revelation my brother and I, who I now recognized as Naruto, were moved to what I could only guess was an orphanage. Now that I at least knew where I was, I entertained myself through the monotonous days by plotting different ways to change the story line and getting myself excited over the thought of being a ninja, however; I realized early on that this world may not be the same as the world I was thinking of, after all, I was somehow born into this one. It was this train of thought that lead to my decision to change as _little_ as possible. If things were the same as I remembered them, which I realized that they probably weren't, then I would have to keep things as similar as possible to how they were the first time or I would change the future and thereby make my own future-knowledge useless.

I found myself being depressed after making my decision, I then began to experiment with the "itch" ,I now realized was the feeling of "Chakra" running through my body, in an attempt to distract myself and hopefully get a head start in becoming a ninja. I found that I could manipulate it in a number of ways, though the options were rather small due to my limited supply and physical mobility; even still, it provided an acceptable distraction for my severely over-developed mind.

When I wasn't playing with my chakra I went back to observing my surroundings, staring at my brother, or attempting to pick up on the language of the "Naruto-verse". I found that due to my child body's brain and instincts, along with the fact that I was bi-lingual in my past life, that I could quickly learn the language although it was still slow going due to the orphanage attendants not speaking much when they were around my brother and I, they seemed to have a firm dislike for us judging from their swift, jerky movements when changing us or feeding us, and the tones of their voices when speaking to each other in our presence. I made a mental note not to give them an actual reason not to like me.

Days passed in a routine for us; Wake up, play with chakra for a few hours, orphanage attendants come to feed and change use, play with chakra for another hour, stare at Naruto for an hour (this was particularly interesting because he had a different reaction almost every day), then the rest of the afternoon was spent amusing myself with anything from mentally running through my military training to remembering quotes from my favorite books and movies, and eventually I went to sleep and repeated. The schedule rarely changed, and it occurred to me that it was odd that we were only fed once a day, but I never actually felt hungry so it didn't bother me very much. The days melted together and I very quickly lost track of what day it was, or how long they had kept us in the room. Eventually the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, and I caught myself several times going kind of crazy, sometimes I would have strange nightmares that I couldn't remember, I assumed Naruto was suffering the same thing because he would occasionally wake up crying in the middle of the night.

Eventually, one of the nicer attendants moved us out of the room and carried us into a room filled with more babies who's ages ranged anywhere from below 1 to 3. None of the children seemed to notice or care when we were dropped off and the attendant said nothing to us as she left. Naruto and I were cautious at first, but eventually I worked up the nerve to crawl over to one of the many toy boxes and bring some over to Naruto.

This became a normal occurrence after that first day and I found myself feeling much saner. Eventually the novelty wore off and I became just as bored as when we were stuck in the room all day, every day.

On one of our less than spectacular days in the "play room" Naruto and I were rolling a small red ball back and forth and the way it was spinning vaguely reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite remember what. I continued to stare at the ball intensely until, in my imagination, I replaced the color with blue and the memory came to me. Naruto used an ability called _rasengan_ in the manga and it looked like this, I became giddy with excitement at the idea of using such an ability now that I was here and had access to chakra. After this revelation I began constructing a profile for what kind of ninja I wanted to be, what kind of abilities I wanted to focus on, and ideas for how to learn them. My enthusiasm was dampened when I realized that I was still a baby and would have to wait some years before I could enter the academy and learn how to do ninja techniques, but I figured that if I couldn't work on techniques or physical training, then I could just work on my mind. This sparked a large desire in me to learn how to read and speak the language of the "Naruto-verse" and I spent a great deal of my time focusing on it, especially when one of the attendants started to come in and teach all the kids in the "play room" around our third year there.

Even though I tried hard not to bring attention to Naruto and myself, I quickly became known for not talking even after all of the other children started speaking in broken sentences. I was quite a perfectionist in my last life and decided that I wouldn't speak until I was confident that I could do it fluently. This of course made me remember learning new languages shortly after joining the military in my past life, my platoon used to make fun of me for not speaking in a language 'till I figured it out almost as much as they picked on me for reading Naruto or being one of two girls. Naruto took it upon himself to speak for both of us and was quite enthusiastic when, around our fourth year; the old man came to visit on our birthday and gave each of us a book. While he was there I exposed my ability to speak in front of the attendants and expressed to him my desire to be a ninja and was excited when he gave me a "maybe", even if that wasn't much it still meant he would consider it.

I'm sure you're wondering why I would want to place my new life in danger so quickly after losing my first one. Well, in all honesty, it's all I knew. The military I mean, before joining the military I was a street rat, and before that… well there wasn't really anything, but none of that is really important.

Naruto was not the same as how I remembered him from the manga, he was quieter and more observant, and I wondered often if this was somehow because of me, or if the fact that he now had family meant he didn't seek attention as much. He was actually quite smart and it caught me off-guard when one night, after "lights-out" he asked me why I was "different", like he knew that I wasn't from here. I pretended to brush off the question and just rolled over in my bed, but I could feel his stare until I fell asleep.

In our fifth year the old man returned and took us away from the orphanage and gave us our own apartment. It struck me as very strange to be giving two five-year-olds their own place to live, but then I realized that he had done the same for Naruto in the manga. I wondered at his reasons, but shrugged them off since I couldn't really apply any of the rules of my society to this one; after all it was a completely different universe. Along with the apartment came an envelope with a stack of what I assumed to be money in it and two application forms for the KNA, or Konoha Ninja Academy. I remember letting out a girlish scream and wrapping my arms around the old man along with Naruto in my excitement. After that Naruto and I filled out the forms, with the old man's help, and then gave them to him to turn in.

A couple weeks later he picked us up from our new home and dropped us off at the academy for our first year.

It wasn't so bad, we got stuck in a class with almost no recognizable people. I assumed these were cannon fodder characters that never made it past chunin in the manga. Now, I hope you caught the part where I said _almost_, because that's important. There were three aspiring soldiers in the class that were _definitely_ recognizable. Them being Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji Hyuuga.

None of the three students seemed to be particularly inclined to being friends or even knowing each other, so I assumed that they didn't really get to know each-other until they were placed into their cell under Maito Guy, after they graduated.

Lee hadn't turned into a Guy clone yet, he _thankfully_ wasn't wearing the green spandex or bright orange legwarmers, but he did have the same determination in his eyes and I could tell that nothing was keeping him from becoming the greatest Taijutsu master that Konoha would ever see.

Tenten, I could tell, was already heading down the path of a weapons mistress and had no desire to be anything else. I wondered briefly if it would be possible to convince her to take up something else to go along with it, if only so she wouldn't be a one-trick pony.

Neji seemed as cold and heartless as ever, at least until he got his ass beat by Naruto. Though I did notice a couple of the other girls _swoon_ as he passed them on his way to his seat, I didn't quite get it.

Naruto and I kept to ourselves mostly. We found out quickly that any attempts at answering questions or asking for help would get us sent out of the class for being "disruptions" or "disturbing the learning environment". We decided late one night, after one of our instructors was particularly brutal, that we were going to intentionally make ourselves underestimated. We wanted an advantage out of the academy, so we stayed middle of the pack in all of our studies and went so far as to fail our first graduation test and instead take it with the future 'Rookie 9' or… Rookie 10 in this case.

Somewhere during our second year our instructor brought up the art of Fuinjutsu and I fell in love. It reminded me of the days before I had joined the military, when I was still in school and thinking about going to college, huh, that didn't get me anywhere, but I loved physics. After our instructors walked us through the basics I started spending all of my free time studying seals and thinking of ways to apply them in combat. Seals became particularly useful when I discovered that I could use them to fix things in our house, like warming the water that came out of the shower head because we didn't get hot water, or security seals to make sure people couldn't break the locks on our door and windows. I kept all of my calculations and notes in a series of notebooks and made frequent trips to the library, under henge of course, to study as much as possible.

It was during my studies that I came across a series of books that taught the art of Sealing that were Co-written by two _very_ important people in mine and Naruto's lives; Minato Namikaze, the fourth hokage, and Jiraiya of the Legendary Sannin. I immediately checked out all of these books without any intention of ever giving them back. There were 9 books Co-written between the fourth and Jiraiya, but they both also had 3 books each on their respective specializations and theories about Sealing. I also came across 1 book that was Co-written by Mito and Kushina Uzumaki, this book written on their specialization, Combat Sealing. Needless to say, I tried to read the one written by the Uzumaki's first. Unfortunately, according to notations inside the front cover, I would have to read and be adept at all of the skills in the first three of the books by the fourth and Jiraiya. Finding these books sparked a determination in me to learn everything I possibly could about sealing.

Of course, Sealing was not the only thing that I studied; I spent a large amount of time reading about the history of the Elemental Nations, the nine tailed beasts, and the Sage of the Six Paths simply because it was fascinating, especially since the events that I was learning about only happened a few hundred years ago at most. I amazed me that the world I now found myself in was so new, and that if things went the way I thought they would, that it could very well be _me_ in one of these books in a couple decades. I also spent every morning going through everything I could remember of the training from my past life; this included specialized martial arts for close quarter's confrontations, some knife work that I picked up from being a street rat, having a keen awareness of my surroundings, and light physical training.

Naruto did not sit around doing nothing while we were in the academy. Naruto had a profound interest in Ninjutsu, but his chakra control was absolutely horrific. So Naruto spent a great deal of time just practicing chakra control, but due to our chakra induced ADHD, neither of us could sit still for very long. To keep us from getting bored with our studies, we practiced our stealth and infiltration skills. How does one go about practicing these things you ask? The answer to such a question is very simple and can be summed up in one word; pranking. Naruto and I would go out and do a prank and then claim credit for that prank by doing something that marked it as us, like a signature, and then the other would try to out-do them with a prank of their own.

Because of our pranking Naruto quickly became known as the 'prankster from hell' because he intentionally got caught and worked on his speed by running circles around the ninja sent to capture him. I focused more on not being caught in the first place so never got a moniker or had to outrun other ninja. I decided that that was going to change.

Today was the day we were supposed to graduate. I jumped out of bed and shut off my alarm clock, before entering the bathroom and turning on the shower. I took a look in the mirror before entering the shower, as I found myself doing every morning, not out of vanity but simply because the short girl with bright orange hair and grey-purple eyes that looked back at me didn't seem right to me. Whenever I saw my reflection I still expected to see light-brown hair and dark blue eyes, sharper features and smaller eyes. I shook my head before showering and dressing in my usual dark-grey pants, blue mesh under-shirt, and red-orange hoodie. I flipped my hood up and pushed my sleeves up passed my elbows as I walked silently to the door of our house and bit my thumb, swiping the blood across the handle, and ignored it as the small cut healed almost instantaneously after I slipped outside. I quickly made my way through the dark shadows and back-alleys of Konoha, dodging ANBU and Chunin patrols the whole way, towards my target; the Hokage monument. I remembered Naruto doing this in the manga and couldn't help but steal his spotlight this time around. It took me a few hours and by the time I was done people were getting up to start there days, which meant there was no chance of getting away without getting caught, but I couldn't help the huge grin that split my face as the first set of chunin and ANBU noticed what I had done. As the ANBU and chunin started making their way towards me I took one last good look at my work, I had painted the first three Hokages to look like women, complete with lipstick, blush, and eye shadow. The fourth hokage I painted to look exactly as he did in life except for one small change, I gave him bright orange hair like my own and three whisker marks on each cheek. I finally decided my time was up and dashed down the face of the hokage monument, using chakra to stick to the surface, and then away from the incoming chunin and ANBU, keeping just ahead of them as I ran. I let out girlish giggles and squeals at the feeling of running across the rooftops of Konoha with ninja in hot-pursuit. I felt like I was flying, I wanted more, I pushed more chakra to my legs and went faster, and faster, and faster until I couldn't keep up with my own legs and stumbled. I quickly changed my inopportune fall to my favor by falling swinging over the side of the build I was on and watching as my pursuers leapt over my and kept going. I giggled some more and then left for the academy.

**[Break]**

As I entered my classroom, through the window and without being seen by the chattering students already there, I took my seat all the way in the back where nobody would be behind me and I could see everyone. I take that seat for obvious reasons, the most prevalent of which being that I could see my brother, and everyone within one seat of him, rather well.

I opened up 'Intermediate Sealing: Contact seals and their applications', the fourth book in the series by the fourth and Jiraiya, and took out a scroll already half filled with notes and different sealing formulae. This was not an uncommon occurrence in the classroom, so the few students that had noticed me so far didn't bother to acknowledge me.

I spent a good twenty minutes reading and scribbling on my scroll before three ANBU and our Chunin instructor Iruka Umino burst into the room. The classroom went completely silent at their abrupt entrance and, upon noticing the beet-red face of their instructor, a few students began shaking in their chairs; I didn't bother looking up, already knowing why they were here. Every head turned, except for mine, to follow Iruka as he stomped his way between the rows of seats until he was glaring down at me while I worked. The killing intent radiating off of him caused many of the students in the row behind him to fidget and look away.

As Iruka opened his mouth, no doubt to start shouting at me, the door slammed open and a bundle of bright orange and yellow slammed into the ANBU at the front of the room, attracting everyone's attention except for mine. Iruka turned to the front of the room with an inquisitive look on his face that quickly changed to red and angry when he saw that it was Naruto that had caused the disruption, "Uzumaki! Go to your seat, sit down, and shut the HELL up..." he turned away from the debacle at the front of the class and returned his attention to me mid-sentence, "… and as for you! We are going to complete this graduation exam and then you and I are taking a field trip to the Hokage's office!" Iruka was breathing heavily while he glared at me, as if he expected a response. I rarely spoke in class, and Iruka knew it, so he finally turned around with a huff and returned to the room, ignoring the fact that the ANBU had disappeared only to be replaced by his teaching assistant Mizuki, a fellow chunin.

When Iruka finally turned back around his face was no longer red and he seemed to have composed himself. He gave us a speech about how after this exam, we would either be ready to be soldiers of Konoha or we would fail and try again next year and blah, blah, blah. I didn't pay much attention to him, considering my book and scroll were much more interesting.

Iruka and Mizuki passed out our written tests and as he came to me he glared at me until I finally sealed away my book into the scroll and then sealed the scroll into a storage seal on the inside of my wrist. Iruka had been astonished the first time he saw me do that, now it was just par for the course. I easily breezed my way through the test, answering all of the questions very specifically and with references to different books I had read entered in. Naruto and I had decided we were going to pass this year.

After I finished I took a look around the classroom and noticed that Sasuke was just now flipping over his test, signifying that he had finished. Shikamaru was asleep with his test face up; I assumed he didn't even bother looking at it. Naruto finished a few moments after Sasuke, and then all of the tests could be heard being flipped over.

After Iruka and Mizuki collected all of our tests we were lead outside to the academy training grounds. Iruka explained that this would be the Taijutsu portion of our exam and that it would be one-on-one against Mizuki, we were told to last as long as possible and the spar would be called when five minutes were up or we managed to land a hit on our instructor. I had to suppress a giggle at the thought of punching Mizuki, but I couldn't hold back the slight smirk or mischievous gleam that entered my eye.

I had excelled at the martial arts they taught us in my past life, though it was not quite suited to a person of my body type. I learned it the way they taught it and then adapted it to something better for me. The original style was a mix of many, and focused mainly on grapples and striking after you've got your opponent on the ground. I incorporated many of the grapples in my new style by turning them into feints, charge in like you're going to grab them and then turn it into a haymaker to the face, or a punch to the kidney, or any other kind of maneuver. My new style mainly focused on flexibility and counter-attacking, though you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at my stance or watching me move, which was the genius of it.

I watched as the students called before me each got a one-line pep-talk from Mizuki before the fight and then held their own for the five minutes. The only matches of note were Sasuke's and Shikamaru's. Sasuke actually landed a hit on Mizuki after four minutes and a few seconds, while Shikamaru didn't attack at all, he dodged for the full five minutes, I was beginning to wonder how he was going to pass at all.

Finally it came to be my turn and Mizuki gave me his line, "Try your best and don't worry about hurting me, give it your all." After his little spiel he gave me the most see-through smile I had ever seen. _Oh yes, I'm going to enjoy this._ I dropped into the academy style's offensive stance and waited for Iruka to start our match with a shout of, "Begin!"

As I ran towards Mizuki I extended my right arm in a text-book academy style haymaker and inwardly smirked as he made to block. Just before my punch would have come into contact with Mizuki's block I opened my hand and grabbed his forearm, turned my back toward him to throw my momentum into him causing him to flip over my shoulder. I couldn't keep the satisfaction off of my face as he landed on his back with a sudden exhale and a grunt. I held his arm at the wrist and elbow, applying pressure and pressing my knee into his throat. I tried, and failed, to keep a face splitting, Cheshire cat grin off my face at the look of rage and surprise on his face.

Iruka stared at me doing an admirable impression of a fish before shaking his head and smiling, "Your time is Forty-Three seconds, return to your place." I let go of Mizuki as I snapped to attention and brought my hand up to my forehead in a standard army salute, then returned to my place in line. I did my best not to show any satisfaction at the whispers of my classmates or the heated glare that Sasuke was giving me. I did let a small smile onto my face as Naruto flew into me in his patented 'tackle-hug', cheering about my "Bad-ass ninja skills" the whole time and getting a firm reprimand from Iruka as he took up position to begin his bout with Mizuki.

I watched as Mizuki shot a glare in my direction while he didn't think I was paying attention, he then gave Naruto his line. Iruka shook his head at Naruto's antics before calling for their match to begin. Mizuki had a smirk on his face as he charged Naruto. Naruto quickly dropped his 'idiot act' and his eyes went from his usual bright azure to calm, calculating grey-blue. Mizuki threw a punch towards Naruto's head with considerable force, much more than he used with any of the other aspiring soldiers. Naruto simply leaned to the side and let the punch pass over his left shoulder. He used the small momentum he gained from leaning to raise his knee into Mizuki's gut. Mizuki, being a chunin, did not fold over the knee, like any of the students would have, but was forced back by the strength behind it and left all the opening Naruto needed. Naruto followed up his knee strike by quickly moving back into Mizuki's guard punching Mizuki one in the face, once again in his gut, and then snapping a kick to his chin that sent him air-born for a moment, before he fell flat on his back.

Iruka once again practiced his fish imitating skills before glancing between Naruto and I. He shook his head again and read off Naruto's time of Fifty-Six seconds. Naruto pouted on his way back to me, mumbling about how he was supposed to do better than me. I enveloped him in a hug and then ruffled his hair, "It's alright, you're still better than me at Ninjutsu and you have more reserves than me" I consoled him. The truth was that Naruto _was_ better than me at Taijutsu, he just didn't know any Taijutsu other than the academy Taijutsu and it was not suited to his body.

After the last few students took their turns with Mizuki we returned to the class room to complete the Ninjutsu portion of our exam. This was the part of the exam I was worried about. Naruto, I knew would do fine, he practiced chakra control quite a bit; so our unnaturally high chakra reserves wouldn't stop him from completing the three E-rank academy jutsu. I, on the other hand, could not do the standard clone technique, I sucked at Ninjutsu. Ninjutsu just didn't interest me as much as Fuinjutsu and neither of us could do Genjutsu. I wondered if, if I failed, Mizuki might come to me like he did for Naruto in the manga.

As we took our seats in the classroom Iruka began to call out names and have us do the three academy jutsu. Everyone struggled with at least one of them, aside from Sasuke and surprisingly Sakura, but everyone completed all three jutsu. I continued to worry so much that I missed it when Iruka called my name, finally after the third time; I acknowledged him and made my way to the front of the class. Mizuki gave me a cocky smirk, as if he knew I would fail. "Mikan, please perform the Transformation technique and become anyone of your choosing." Iruka said with a benign smile. I took a deep breath and then let it out slowly.

"**Henge no Jutsu! **_(Transformation technique)"_ There was a puff of smoke the quickly blew out of the open window to reveal the fourth hokage, complete with Haori, forehead protector, and tri-pronged kunai. Iruka's eyes widened for a moment before he walked around me, inspecting my Henge. After he walked a full circuit, he stopped in front of me and gave me a nod, "Thank you, you may release the technique. Please perform the Substitution technique" I, once again, acknowledged his order with my military salute, before releasing my Henge. It was difficult to forget the military baring I worked so hard for in my past life.

I performed the hand-seals for the Substitution technique, "**Kawarimi no Jutsu! **_(Substitution Technique)_" There was another cloud of smoke that blew away to reveal Naruto standing in my place. The whole class, including the instructors, turned to see me leaning back in Naruto's chair, hands crossed over my chest, and feet propped up on the desk, crossed at the ankles.

Iruka nodded at me, "Thank you, return to your place-"Iruka was interrupted by Naruto performing his own Kawarimi with me, "-and please perform the Clone technique" Iruka shook his head at Naruto's antics once again.

I nervously brought my hands together to perform the seals for the clone technique, channeled as little chakra as I could to my hands, "**Bunshin no Jutsu!**_ (Clone Technique)_" A large cloud of smoke filled the room and took a few moments to dissipate. I had my eyes closed and didn't dare open them for fear that I had failed.

"Mikan…" I opened my eyes at the sound of Iruka's voice, only to see three pale and sickly looking clones laying on the floor, "…YOU FAIL!" I dispelled my clones and sighed before turning around to return to my seat. My eyes found Naruto's and he gave me an apologetic smile. He mouthed the words; _do you want me to fail as well?_ I shook my head at him. This took up all of two seconds and his shoulder brushed mine as he walked passed me to take his exam.

I watched from my seat as he performed the Henge and Bunshin jutsus, he didn't have to perform Kawarimi because he used it to switch with me earlier. I sighed as he returned to his seat with his headband tied around his forehead.

After Iruka gave the class a speech about how they were all ninja of Konoha now and they should behave as such, he told them when to come back for team assignments and we all filed out of the class room. Naruto and I walked in silence to our favorite place to eat, mostly because they were the only place we could eat without being thrown out or over charged, but also because they served ramen and Naruto loved ramen.

We entered the Ichiraku ramen stand and took our usual seats on the stools at the counter. Ayame Ichiraku, the daughter of the stand owner, greeted us and took our orders; three bowls of shrimp ramen for me and four miso ramen for Naruto. Naruto and I ate in silence while Ayame shot several glances at me that she thought I couldn't see, I assumed she was looking for my headband. I finally looked up from my bowl to stare directly into her eyes, "I don't have one, Ayame" Her eyes softened and she gave me another bowl of shrimp ramen.

"I'm sorry Mika, here, on the house." I smiled at her and was about to respond with a thank you, but was interrupted by an ANBU appearing outside.

"Sorry Ayame, gotta go, I got a date with an old man about some paint." I heard her laugh while she was making Naruto's next bowl. I dropped enough money to pay for my bowl, including the extra one, and included a generous tip before I left with the ANBU for the Hokage Tower.

I entered the Hokage Tower and the ANBU disappeared as usual. I made my way up the stairs to the floor where the hokage's office was. As I was approaching the door to the old man's office I was stopped by the receptionist, she was obviously a chunin, she had bright red, chin-length that was cut in a similar way to mine, slim figure, and a pretty smile; not that I ever saw that. The pretty receptionist glared at me while I gave her a smile like she was the friendliest person in the world. Finally the woman turned away with a huff and I walked into the old man's office.

I closed the door behind me as I stepped into the hokage's office and stopped in the center of the room, standing ramrod straight, shoulders squared, looking straight forward with my hands fisted at my sides and thumbs on the outside of the fist, facing forward; this position is also known as 'attention'. The old man puffed on his pipe and stared at me coldly, I had never seen him like this, and subconsciously I noted the positions of the ANBU guards that were hidden in the room with us. The old man- no, hokage- regarded me silently for a few more moments before, finally, he twitched a finger and I felt the ANBU leave the room. He tapped a spot under his desk and the room lit with an ethereal, purple glow for a moment, before he let out a sigh and I could have sworn that he aged right before my eyes.

"So, you know. I wonder… how long have you known and how did you figure it out?" The hokage spoke with none of the mirth or grandfatherly love that he usually did. I hesitated for a moment. _Should I tell him the truth? Yeah, that'd go over well, "Sorry gramps, I forgot to mention that I am from a completely different world and somehow, my barely-adult mind is stuck in the body of a child; so I remember everything that you have ever said or done around me since I was born._ I almost chuckled at the thought.

"Lord Hokage? Permission to speak freely?" I felt that, now, in front of my leader, my military baring was even more important. He nodded at me, which I took to mean '_at ease, soldier'_. I spread my feet to be shoulder width apart, clasped my hands behind my back, and let my shoulders sag slightly. "Sir, what I'm about to tell you is going to be hard to believe, I am aware that I'm in no position to demand anything from you, but ask that you promise me you will listen until my story is finished, and that you keep an open mind." The hokage seemed a bit startled by the seriousness of my expression, but regardless, he gave me a nod. That wasn't good enough for me, "Promise, say it, or you may as well send me to T&I right now." The hokage's expression turned from mildly surprised to cold and calculating again.

"You were right to say that you are in no position to make demands. You are not to ever attempt to command me ever again, are we clear?" I nodded to the hokage, but my expression did not change, I made it clear that I was still waiting for the promise. "I promise that I will do as you ask." I let out a breath that I was unaware I was holding.

"Let me start by saying that I am completely loyal to the citizens of Konoha, and that the information I am about to give you is for your ears only, and maybe Naruto's when he's older." The hokage looked a bit taken aback, but I continued anyway. "I am not the Ten-year-old, wanna-be ninja that you think I am; nor am I even from this world. I am, or was, a twenty-year-old woman from a country called 'The United States of America'. I'll not delve into my life story because it's not relevant, but during my life I came across books that told a story about a loud, obnoxious, blonde child that loved ramen and the color orange, and all of his adventures. This book was titled 'Naruto'. This book, or rather, ongoing series of books, told of Naruto's adventures in a place called 'The Elemental Nations' and of strange people who used a mystical energy, they called 'chakra', to accomplish amazing feats that most people couldn't dream of." Throughout the recitation of my tale, the hokage's expression didn't change at all. His stare was unnerving, but I continued and hoped that he would believe me. "On my eighteenth birthday I joined the military, what would be the equivalent of being a ninja in your world." The hokage gave me a nod and motioned for me to continue. I sighed, "I was trained and sent off to fight for my country, and that's what I did for my first year. In my second year I was trained for special operations, which are about as close as it gets to being a ninja in my world." I let out a chuckle at my situation. "I'm not one to brag, but I was a prodigy and quickly became one of the best in my field, I was basically trained to be an assassin, kill high priority targets to weaken moral or to make sure some negotiations go the way my country wanted them to, you know how it is." He gave another nod. "Anyway, I came home for a small vacation, to see my family and friends, before I was supposed to be sent back out and continue my duty." I noticed his raised eyebrow, he caught the difference between "was supposed to" and "went". "As you have no doubt figured out, I did not make it back. On the way from my home to my sister's home to visit my nephew, I died." This shocked the hokage, I could tell by the slight widening of his eyes and the sharp intake of breath. A sardonic smile spread across my face, "Yes, lord hokage, I died. I can't tell you exactly what happened, I have a few guesses, but I don't remember exactly what happened. After my death, I awoke as a newborn baby, just as I was being brought into the world. I didn't really figure out where I was or what was going on until a couple days after you brought my brother and me into this very office. I figured it out when I saw the hokage monument." I sighed and looked to the hokage monument, still covered in paint as it was. "I don't know why I'm here, how I got here, or if I can ever get back, but I have no intentions of finding out." This confused the old hokage; I met his quizzical stare with a determined on of my own.

"That is quite the tale, but if it is true, then why wouldn't you want to return to your home?" I thought about his question for a moment before I decided on a short response of four words.

"I am home, sir."

* * *

AN: Before I actually start my author's note, I would like to thank 'Elji' for being my sole reviewer.

So, this is the first chapter of my story, I've never posted any of my writing before but I decided to try my hand at it. This story won't have an over-abundance of author's notes, in fact this could very possibly be the only one. As you can see from reading this, I have changed a few things already. I want to get a few questions out of the way before they're asked, the first of which is "I thought you said she was a student in the first chapter?" well, she was still disoriented and that was the last thing she remembered. Second question i'm sure i'll get, "Your OC and Naruto are super-powered, what kind of genin can take on a chunin in taijutsu and win in less than a minute?" Well, I took into account that Mizuki was expecting them to be terrible, like they portrayed throughout their stint in the academy, so it caught him off guard when they showed their true colors and kicked his ass. I'm sure, if people decide they like this story, that i'll get a couple e-mails this month wondering where I am because I'm not posting anything, well, this month is Camp NaNoWriMo month, so I'll be writing an original fiction all month instead of posting anything for SoB, but rest assured, I will continue the story because I have a million more ideas to get down. I am also in need of a Beta reader and will be looking for one, so if you're interested, then send me a message, please don't put it in a review.

Thank you for reading,

Garfieldo the Goober


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"_That is quite the tale, but if it is true, then why wouldn't you want to return to your home?" I thought about his question for a moment before I decided on a short response of four words._

_ "I am home, sir."_

* * *

There was silence after my last statement. I wasn't sure how he would react to my story when I began telling it; in all actuality I was running through all of my training on resisting torture if only because it was a habit. Finally, the old man broke the silence, "Do you have any proof that what you've told me is true?" I thought for a moment, of all of the ways I could possibly prove that I was telling the truth and not some psychotic little girl with weird dreams. Finally I nodded.

"I can think of two ways to prove it. Firstly, I could give you information about Konoha that is not possible for me to know at my age or rank." I noticed the hokage's eyes widening at the fact that I had classified information about Konoha. "Secondly, though I'm loathe to try this option, you could have a Yamanaka probe my mind for my memories of my past life." The hokage nodded.

"I believe you, Mikan, but I'm still going to need proof. What is this information that you have? If it is not sufficient then we will try option two." I shuddered at the thought of someone looking through my memories. I let out a sigh and thought about where to begin.

"Well, I suppose I should start with mine and Naruto's parents and the night of our birth. As you know, Minato Namikaze was our father, and Kushina Uzumaki was our mother. On the night of our birth the Nine-tailed demon fox attacked Konoha. Many people believe that it did this of its own volition, this is wrong." The third's eyes widened. "The fox was under the control of an Uchiha, Madara Uchiha." At this point, the third's eyes narrowed but he did not speak. I took that as my queue to continue. "Our father fought Madara Uchiha to a standstill, and was going to kill him but he escaped. Shortly after their battle he sealed half of the nine-tailed fox into Naruto and half into himself with the _Shiki Fujin (Dead demon consuming seal)_." The third let out a heavy breath at this, though I didn't understand why at the time.

"I suppose the next big, classified event, is the Uchiha massacre." The third's eyes widened once again. "Danzo, and your advisers, ordered Itachi Uchiha to kill his entire clan to prevent a Coup d' Etat that they had been planning. Itachi followed his orders but, upon finding his brother he couldn't kill him, so instead came back here and begged you to spare him. Then he left Konoha as a missing ninja, and now he is an informant for Jiraiya of the Sannin, mine and Naruto's godfather, in the Akatski. Akatski is an organization of 9 S-class ninja's that plan to capture all 9 tailed beasts and take over the world. Officially they are led by one of the orphans that Jiraiya trained in the Third World War, but he is really just a puppet whose strings are pulled by Madara Uchiha." I had to use every ounce of willpower in my body to keep from laughing at the third's imitation of a fish. I remained silent and kept all emotion from my face until the aged Sarutobi recomposed himself.

"Well, I believe it is safe to say that what you have told me is true. Now, the question is what to do with you." I tilted my head to the right slightly.

"Lord Hokage?" I wasn't quite sure what he meant. I assumed I would be a ninja like the rest of the 'Rookie 9'. The man let a smile stretch across his aged face.

"Well, you did not pass your graduation exam; therefore you are not a ninja." I tried to keep from reacting to this information, I had forgotten about my failing, but I knew he caught my shoulders sag slightly and the lowering of my head. "Now, don't get down yet. I have an offer for you." Immediately, I regained my military baring, and stared determinedly into the old hokage's eyes. He smiled again, "I'm glad to see that the will of fire burns brightly in you, however; before we speak of such things, I have important things to give to you and Naruto, and there's a slight inconsistency in your story that we'll have to go over." My eyes widened slightly, though I quickly recomposed myself and mentally ran through everything that I told him. It didn't help that the old man's eyes were full of mirth, like he was laughing at my struggling. "Take a seat Mikan. I'm sure it will be a while before Naruto gets here." I did as commanded and stared at my leader expectantly.

"I do not see any inconsistencies in my story; you'll have to tell me." The old hokage's mirthful expression dropped.

"On the night of the sealing you said that half of the demonic chakra was sealed into Naruto and half into Minato, that is your inconsistency." As he said this my eyes widened and I quickly began connecting the dots. "Yes, Mikan, he sealed the beast's Yin chakra into you and its Yang chakra into Naruto." I sighed. I didn't feel the way I thought I should, I didn't really feel anything about it, and that scared me. Shouldn't I be scared? Angry? Betrayed? I didn't feel any of it, just… Indifferent, like it didn't even matter.

"I suppose that explains the low chakra control, large reserves, and speedy healing. I'm more disappointed that I didn't figure it out sooner than I am worried about being a Jinchuriki." I let out a rueful chuckle and looked up at the hokage to see his apologetic expression, almost like he felt it was his fault.

We remained silent until Naruto arrived; I noticed a distinct lack of orange clothing or fake, idiotic personality which caught the third by surprise. Naruto immediately sat in a chair next to me and we both looked to Sarutobi. The third smiled at us both before he made his way to the pictures of the Hokages behind his desk. I watched as he took down the picture of our father, and then released a Genjutsu, to reveal what I immediately recognized as a blood seal on the wall. Sarutobi motioned for us both to come to him and began to speak as we approached.

"Do either of you know what this is?" I nodded to him and Naruto shrugged. "This, Naruto, is called a blood seal. They're used in many ways, but this particular seal is like a storage scroll. To release it, you need the blood of the person who created the seal, or if it is configured correctly, then it will take someone who is related to the creator. You also need to apply chakra to the seal." I nodded to him and then glanced to Naruto to see if he understood. Upon finding that he did, I bit my thumb and swiped it across the seal and Naruto reached up and began pouring his chakra into it. Nothing happened immediately and Naruto began to sweat, I became worried so I started to pour my own chakra into the seal and after a few moments there was a _click-pop_ noise and a scroll popped out of the wall. _All that for a _scroll_? This had better be something very important…_ I was breathing heavily and my reserves were half empty, though I could feel them refilling quickly. The three of us returned to our seats, I did so with the scroll in my hand.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. I looked down at the scroll in my hand and then to Naruto, if this was from our parents then he deserved it more than I did, after all, I had family at one point. I handed the scroll to Naruto and watched as he unfurled it. I watched as his eyes widened, then returned to normal and a single tear spilled from the corner of his eye. He handed the scroll off to me and I read through it.

_Naruto and Mikan,_

_ As I write this your mother is preparing your room in our new family home. This is the first of the letters I plan to write while I'm raising you to be just as badass as I am! Don't tell your mother I wrote that. I plan to have these letters given to you after I'm gone, you may be wondering why I don't give them to you sooner. Well, the reason I'm writing this first one is in case I die before you're born, I've included three storage scrolls with copies of all the Uzumaki clan history books and all of my self-created jutsu. Learn those in order, they're numbered. Your mother will probably write a letter for you as well. When I first was told by your mother that you were going to be born I can't describe with words how proud I was. I'm so excited to meet you and see the people you grow up to be, but, should I not make it then I want you to know that I love and believe in you both. Live well._

_ Your father,_

_ Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage_

I suppose, even with how long I'd been in this new world, it never really sunk in that I had a new family, or that I had new parents that truly thought of me as their daughter; it was nice, and I didn't cry… a lot. After I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand I noticed the storage seal on the bottom of the scroll, just underneath my father's signature. I applied a small amount of chakra to the seal and there was another puff of smoke that revealed the scrolls mentioned in the letter along with a worn headband that sported the Whirlpool country's symbol.

I looked to Naruto with the scrolls in my hand. He nodded to me and I re-sealed them into the storage seal on my wrist. During our short, emotional moment the Hokage had a small smile on his face and was waiting patiently for us to finish with the letter. I tied the whirlpool headband onto my arm.

"I am happy for the both of you, you're like grandchildren to me, and I want you to know that, no matter the problem, my door is always open for you." We nodded our understanding and thanks to the old Sarutobi, then he smiled at me, "Now, about that offer." Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion and I reminded him of my failure. Then I realized that I had forgotten something after the academy. I shot up from my seat into the position of attention, which scared the hell out of Naruto.

"Lord Hokage, if you could hold that thought for a moment, I forgot about something I had to do after the academy. Since this is an offer for me, I request that you give it to me tomorrow so that I may finish my business tonight." The Hokage looked surprised but gave me a hesitant nod.

"Can you tell me what it is you were supposed to do?" I struggled to keep my frustration off of my face while I attempted to think of something. I couldn't just say 'sorry old man, one of your chunin is supposed to betray the village tonight and we won't be able to catch him unless he uses me as an accomplice', now could I? That was when the thought struck me.

"Lord Hokage, my instructor, Iruka Umino, has requested that I clean off the Hokage Monument and then go out to get Ramen with him." The Third nodded and then motioned for me to go. I gave him my salute and then turned on my heel. After leaving the Hokage Tower, I rushed to Ichiraku Ramen to find Mizuki.

As I let up on my mad-dash, I let out a sigh of relief. Mizuki was there, sitting next to my usual seat, eating some ramen. I caught my breath and then casually made my way into the ramen stand, smiling at Ayame's greeting while I took my seat. I watched, out of the corner of my eye, as Mizuki made a few glances in my direction. After Ayame placed my usual in front of me, shrimp ramen, Mizuki turned to me.

"Oh! Mikan-Chan, I didn't notice you there. My condolences about failing the Genin exam, I'm sure you'll pass next time." I put on my best 'pout face', hung my head, and lowered my shoulders. The see-through, apologetic smile on his face disgusted me, but I didn't let it show.

"Thank you Mizuki-sensei, I just really wanted to pass this time with my brother." He nodded with a serious expression on his face.

"I can understand that Mikan-Chan, I suppose this means I'll have to tell you about it…" He trailed off as if he didn't plan to tell me anyway. Inwardly I was chuckling.

"What do you have to tell me about, Mizuki-sensei?" _Like taking candy from a baby._ I put a hopeful expression on my face and even added a quivering lip.

"Why, about the second Genin exam, for those who fail the first time. It's not very well known because we only give it in special cases. Would you like to hear about it?" I let my eyes widen as if I were surprised and then nodded frantically.

"Yes Mizuki-sensei! Tell me! I'll ace this exam and then they'll have to let me be a ninja!" I was doing my best to seem like Naruto when he's putting his idiot act on. Mizuki gave me a condescending smile, I think he was trying to disguise it as a smirk, he failed.

"Well, have you ever heard of the Forbidden scroll of Sealing? It's a scroll that's kept in the Hokage's office. It contains all manner of forbidden techniques. If you steal the scroll and learn one of the techniques, then they have to pass you." I let my eyes widen in an imitation of excitement.

"I'll go get it right now Mizuki-sensei! Just you wait; I'll graduate and become the best ninja ever!" I began slurping down my ramen loudly and quickly.

"Be careful Mikan, the Hokage is in on it but he won't just let you take the scroll. You'll have to be very stealthy." I nodded frantically, and then tossed some money on the counter.

"Later old man! Ayame!" I dashed out of the stand and made my way to the Hokage tower.

With the stealth skills that I gained with my brother, and honed to a razor sharp point, I easily snuck passed any ANBU guards or the random Chunin. I slipped into the Hokage's office and instantly knew that the ANBU there had seen me. I closed the door to the office and then looked directly at all four ANBU guards. I motioned for one of them to come over to me, none of them budged. I straightened up, placed my hands on my hips, put an impatient look on my face, and began tapping my foot.

One of the ANBU, I assumed he was new due to him only having black lines on his mask, stepped out of his hiding place and cocked his head to the side as if to ask 'what the hell do you want?'. Using the standard Konoha sign language, I told him that I needed the Hokage and that it was an S-level threat. The ANBU nodded and then used the _shunshin (Body Flicker). _

I waited patiently for the ANBU to return with the Hokage. I could feel the stares of the remaining three ANBU, they were curious mixed with anger and wariness. Finally, the Hokage arrived and I signed to him that he should activate the privacy seals, he did. I proceeded to describe the situation to him and then asked if I could take the scroll of sealing and two ANBU to catch him red-handed. The Hokage was hesitant, after all this was a threat to village security and I was not even a Genin, but finally he gave me the scroll and motioned for two of the ANBU to accompany me. He deactivated the privacy seals and I opened the window, and then jumped out. As soon as my feet touched the ground I dashed towards the meeting place that Mizuki had given me.

After I arrived at the meeting place a searched my surroundings for Mizuki. He was nowhere to be found so I opened the scroll and began to read through techniques. The first one that caught my eye was the _Kage Bunshin_ _(Shadow Clone)_. I quickly memorized the single hand-seal and instructions before continuing through the scroll. The next technique I found that seemed useful for me was a technique for sealing; it allowed for one to create seals using chakra as the medium and also how to apply them through physical contact. I smiled at the signature that was placed underneath the technique, _Kushina Uzumaki_. The instructions for this technique were much more complicated so I copied them down and then sealed them into the storage seal on my wrist.

Just as I finished sealing away the instructions there was a rustling of leaves and a quiet _thump_. I looked up to see Mizuki standing on a tree branch. He hopped down and began walking towards me. "Good job Mikan-chan. Now hand me the scroll and we can go see the Hokage about your graduation." He had a very see-through smile on his face and his eyes were darting everywhere. I gave him an excited smile and began rolling up the scroll. Mizuki was almost to me, one of the ANBU fidgeted and Mizuki turned around at the noise. I quickly slipped a standard knock-out seal out of my kunai pouch and slapped it onto the back of his neck.

The ANBU suddenly appeared in the clearing, I ignored them in favor of drawing a chakra suppression seal on his forehead. After I finished I stood at attention and saluted both ANBU. "Uzumaki-san, please return to the Hokage Tower and give your report. You did well." I nodded to the ANBU and made my way back.

Once I entered the Hokage's office I stood at attention in the center of the room and awaited permission to speak. The Hokage was placing some item; I couldn't see it, into a drawer and activating a seal on the drawer that looked like a security seal. The Hokage took a seat and pulled out his pipe, he packed some tobacco into it and lit it with a flame on the tip of his finger. He puffed on it a few times before addressing me, "Relax, Mikan-chan. I assume everything went well?" I nodded and placed the forbidden scroll next to his desk, then returned to my position. I gave him a brief description of what happened, including which techniques I copied down, and then fell silent. "Well, I cannot deny you the sealing technique, it does come from your family, after all, but I must caution you against using the Shadow Clone technique. There is a reason why it is considered a forbidden technique." I nodded respectfully.

"Is that all, Lord Hokage?" He smiled at me.

"I'm afraid not, Mikan-Chan, I would prefer to talk about that offer now instead of tomorrow, when your brother would insist on coming with you." I cocked my head to the side and raised an eyebrow. What could he possibly offer me that he didn't want my brother to know about? I waited, patiently, for him to elaborate. "As of this moment, as the Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves, I promote you to the rank of Genin and congratulate you for the completion of your first B-rank mission." A smirk stretched across his face as my eyes widened in shock. "Now that that is out of the way, we can discuss my offer. Genin Uzumaki, I would like to formally invite you into the Special Assassination and Tactical Squad." My composure slipped and I stared, mouth agape, at my leader. An invitation to the ANBU? That was big… bigger than big, how do you respond to that? Is that what I wanted to do with my ninja career? I suppose it wasn't much different than what I had been doing in my past life, but ANBU? The Hokage's smirk never left his face; off-handedly I thought that it was nice to know that a ninja that old could still smile.

"Lord Hokage, what exactly does joining the ANBU entail?" There, that was a good answer. Answer his question with another question and get some answers. Perfect. The Hokage leaned forward and propped his arm up on the desk, then placed his withered old head in his hand.

"Already thinking like an ANBU I see. Well Mikan-Chan, if you were to agree then instead of joining a team this week, you will apprentice under one of our senior operatives and they will train you in everything an ANBU operative needs to know, then they will help you train into whatever field you want to specialize in. As an ANBU you will be paid a salary instead of being paid per mission completed. You will never reveal your identity or ANBU codename to anyone. Officially you will still be a civilian, but you will have a room at ANBU headquarters should you decide not to stay with your brother, and lastly, at the end of your initial training you will receive an ANBU tattoo on your right shoulder along with the standard issue uniform, you will have to wear it and there is a dress code." I thought about it. I would have more experience than other's thought I would. I wouldn't have to do D-rank missions. I could stay with my brother, and I would receive way more money than a Genin or Chunin would. I was sure that by the time I left ANBU I would be able to apply for Jonin ranking. The only down side I could see was that I wouldn't be able to trust anyone in ANBU, what with ROOT running around. Maybe, just maybe, I could do this.

"I would like to accept your invitation, Lord Hokage, but I have two requests." He cocked an eyebrow at me, but motioned with a finger for me to continue. "First, I request that you allow me to wear my mother's whirlpool headband and get the whirlpool insignia on my uniform" The hokage rolled his eyes, but nodded. Obviously he didn't understand how much it meant to me and was assuming I was thinking of fashion. "Second, I would like access to the ANBU weapon smith, even during my initial training period." The Hokage gave me a curious look.

"What could you possibly need access to the weapon smith for?" He seemed a bit wary, but I knew he would allow me if I gave him a vague description of what I had been working on.

"I am working on creating a new ninja tool, I have all of the designs, but I need new pieces created. The pay for the B-ranked mission should be enough to cover it." He nodded.

"On one condition. I want to see the finished product and your schematics for it." I frowned. It had been very difficult to remember all of the pieces and function of those pieces, let alone creating the seals to make this weapon operate, I had no desire to show this to anyone. Inwardly, I smirked; I had come up with a plan.

"Do you only wish to see them, sir?" He cocked an eyebrow again but nodded. I smiled and agreed to his condition.

"Well then, Genin Uzumaki, welcome to ANBU. You're Captain will pick you up at team assignments, tomorrow. Dismissed." I smiled at him, then saluted and left. I was eager to get home and get some sleep; it had been a long day.

I quickly made my way home. I unsealed the door with a smearing of blood on the door handle and quickly removed my shoes and jacket, placing it on the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table. I made my way to my room and was not surprised to see Naruto in my bed. It started almost immediately after we moved into this apartment, though he hadn't done it in a while.

_I had been sleeping soundly, when my senses kicked in at the sound of my door creaking. I listened as soft footsteps made their way towards my bed and then there was pressure, I belatedly realized that Naruto had climbed into bed with me. I was surprised at first, then decided I didn't really care; he was technically my baby brother, after all. He lay on top of the blankets, snug to my side. I turned and tucked him in, gave him a hug, and then went back to sleep. This was a repeat incident that entire week. Eventually he stopped, but any time he had a bad day, or bad dream, he came back. It took some getting used to, but eventually I did._

I smiled softly at my brother, and then quickly changed into a too big T-shirt and some shorts. I climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

* * *

AN: So, I lied in my last author's note. I have decided to focus on this story instead of my NaNoWriMo story, because this one is coming much easier. This chapter is a little short, but I may be posting the next chapter early, so don't worry. I don't quite remember if I posted it in my last author's note, but I am in need of a Beta-reader, if you're interested then send me a message. All that said, how was it? Post a review and let me know because your opinion matters. I may be editing some things in chapter two, i'll let you know in my next chapter if you should bother going back to re-read it.

Also, before I end this author's note, I got a guest review that I can't reply to through private messaging. They asked me why her eyes are purple-grey instead of blue or green like Minato and Kushina's eyes are. Well that... is a secret!

Thank you for reading,

Garfieldo the Goober


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I'm terribly sorry about how late this is. I don't have an excuse and I can't promise that it won't happen again, but on the bright side, I have a beta-reader! She'll be starting with the next chapter.

4/18/13: A reviewer by the name of 'Kenegi' pointed out a problem with the ending of this chapter, so I went ahead and fixed it.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_I smiled softly at my brother, and then quickly changed into a too big T-shirt and some shorts. I climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day._

* * *

I awoke with a start from one of my usual nightmares, this one about one of my experiences in war. I was once again covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily, thankfully I noticed that I hadn't woken my brother. I slowly, and stealthily, got out of bed and took my shower before waking my brother with a kiss to the forehead and a few nudges. As he was showering I made a quick breakfast for us and we left.

The classroom was the same as it always was this early in the morning. The many ninja-to-be were all chattering to their friends about what they were expecting, who they wanted to be on teams with, and who their new sensei's would be, this caused a cacophony of noise that steadily grew more and more annoying as I took my seat in the back and attempted to read my book quietly.

Subconsciously, I noted the members of the 'Rookie 9' and their reactions to today. Sasuke was the same as usual, he was stoic and spent all of his time ignoring the two harpies next to him and staring at the wall ahead of him. Kiba and Naruto were arguing about who was better, this was usually entertaining because I knew Naruto was better than Kiba, but he still played the idiot. Hinata was in the corner on the opposite side of the room from me and staring at Naruto. Shino was down one row from Hinata and staring out of the window. Shikamaru appeared to be sleeping at first glance, but upon closer inspection I noticed that he was reading something under his desk. I couldn't quite make out what it was, but it must have been important if he was attempting to hide it. Choji was eating, just like he normally would; I caught his eye and subtly motioned to Shikamaru, as if to ask 'what's he doing?' I watched as he nudged Shikamaru and pointed him in my direction, he nodded to me and then motioned me over.

"What'cha got there, Shika?" Throughout my time at the academy, Choji and Shikamaru were the only people I went out of my way to be friendly with. I was cordial with everyone else, including Sasuke, but I decided early on that Shikamaru and Choji were good people and I wanted them on my side. Shikamaru actually went out of his way to go to the library with me on occasion, usually to 'Stay away from my mother' as he would say. His presence was usually welcome and he helped me figure out a lot of things that confused me with Sealing. Choji was a loyal friend and accepted me without question and with an offer of one of his chips. I knew from the Manga that this should not be taken lightly. You may wonder why I went out of my way to isolate myself instead of hanging out with the two people I liked in class. Well, the Uchiha I mentioned earlier decided he didn't much like me, or my ranking in the class, which was above his until the graduation exam. I didn't want to bring that on my friends if he decided that he didn't like them by association.

"Take a look for yourself, Mikan; I'm sure you'll find it… interesting." He handed me the small slip of paper and I crouched between their chairs to read it. It looked to be a list of teams and sensei's, it surprised me that Shikamaru would have this, but the end of the slip was what caught my attention.

_Primary Teams_

_ Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha led by Kakashi Hatake_

_ Team 8: Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame led by Kurenai Yuhi_

_ Team 9: Still in circulation._

_Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi led by Asuma Sarutobi_

I wondered, for a moment, what 'Primary Teams' could mean, but didn't have a chance to give it any serious thought. "I noticed, Mikan that _you_ are not on the list. Why is that? I wondered, at first, if you were only here to see what team your brother was on, but that doesn't make sense because you have, not one but _two_ headbands. So, I wondered what a single Genin could be recruited to if not placed in a 3-man cell. You could be in the reserves, be sent for medic training, stay in the academy to be trained up to chunin and then be a teacher… but none of these suit you. The only thing left is ANBU." He gave me a calculating look. I had to use all of my willpower to keep the prideful smirk off of my face; it did not take him very long to figure that out.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss my team placement, but your deductive reasoning skills are certainly above average." He gave me a nod and then, as if nothing ever happened, he started asking me about seals and something he was stuck on. This happened often, and I enjoyed it. Shikamaru was not even close to where I was in Sealing, nor did he ever plan to get that far. He wanted a basic grasp of what they were and how they worked. I wondered if he even bothered with Sealing in the first timeline, the Manga never mentioned it; then again, Shika didn't seem to be interested in anything except one thing…

_I was a little nervous of what today's class would be like. Naruto and I were told before lunch that we were being placed in a new class with children our own age. The bell had just rung and we were making our way outside to eat our lunch and meet our new class. I was shocked to find out that we were being moved to the class that the 'Rookie 9' were in, but in hindsight I realized that I probably shouldn't have been. I took note of everyone's positions and checked my surroundings for anything that would be useful to me in an emergency, as I did whenever I entered a new area. _

_Sasuke was throwing blunted kunai at the training posts and was surrounded by his group of giggling fan-girls, which included Sakura and Ino. Kiba was playing with Akamaru by himself. Shino was crouched and staring intently at the roots of a tree, I thought this was odd. Hinata was doing her best to hide from everyone. Shikamaru though… he was just lying on his back with his arms behind his head. I would have assumed he was sleeping if I didn't see that his eyes were open and Choji, who was next to him, was talking. I brushed my shoulder up against Naruto's and then motioned vaguely in their general direction, he lead the way without question._

"_Hey guys! We're new to this class and you guys looked friendly enough. I'm Naruto and this is my big sis, Mikan." Naruto reached out towards Choji to shake his hand, which Choji did happily._

"_Welcome to the class. Wanna' chip?" Choji tilted his bag of chips towards Naruto but he and Shikamaru were both staring, very intently, at me. I found it odd that they would be so focused on me if Naruto was the one talking to them. I went out of my way to make myself inconspicuous… I wasn't talking to them, at all. That must have been it. Naruto happily took one of Choji's chips and they introduced themselves as Choji and Shikamaru. I felt very uncomfortable with both of the boys staring at me._

"_Do I have something on my face?" Both of the boys blushed and Naruto turned towards me to inspect my face. _

"_No, Mikan, you don't have anything on your face. You're… uh… well… you're a girl, and you're talking to us." I quirked an eyebrow at them. What was so bad about girls? I decided it would be easiest to just ask them what the problem was._

"…_and? What's so bad about that?" Both boys blushed again and looked away. Shikamaru mumbled something that I didn't quite catch._

"_What was that Shikamaru? Speak up, please." He grumbled something that sounded like 'troublesome' before he spoke up._

"_You're a girl, and you're pretty." I was taken aback. Weren't boys our age supposed to still be in their 'girls have cooties' phase? Apparently not Shikamaru or Choji. I wasn't exactly sure how to respond to that and found myself to be quite embarrassed about being caught flat-footed by an eight year old._

_I managed to stammer out a short 'thank you' and look away from them. Naruto beamed at them and we quickly put the awkwardness behind us in favor of talking. It was after a short time that Shikamaru explained his fascination with cloud-watching…_

Eventually I returned to my seat. Just in time too, our instructor Iruka walked into the room just as I was taking my seat. I watched as he stood at the front of the room for a few minutes, just watching us. It was then that it occurred to me that he really did actually _enjoy_ being a teacher. Finally, when none of the students even acknowledged him, I saw the small tick that appeared on his forehead. It was this signal that notified me of Iruka's rising anger. Iruka finally gave in to his anger and let out a shout, "Sit down, shut up, and pay attention!"

Every student quickly found their seats and I had to suppress a chuckle when I saw Naruto trip and fall into Hinata's lap in his rush to the seat next to her. I settled for shaking my head and muttering 'dork' under my breath.

After all of the new Genin were seated, Iruka gave us another speech about the 'Will of Fire' and the dangers of being a ninja. I promptly tuned him out and mentally brought up an image of my latest sealing project. In my latest book, my father and godfather talked about seals that could bend light around whatever they were applied to in a way that would make the object seem invisible unless you knew what to look for. These kinds of seals were advanced and I was having a hard time wrapping my head around the kind of calculations and measurements you would need to bend _light_ around _only_ the object you wanted it to. In my head I was drawing, erasing, and then re-drawing many different parts of my seal, I was finally making a break through when I heard Iruka, "- Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha; Team 8: Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame; Team 9 is still in circulation so, Team 10: Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akamichi, and Ino Yamanaka" I worked hard to keep the scowl off of my face when I heard that Naruto and Sasuke would still be on the same team. Unlike Naruto, in the Manga, I had no hope of Sasuke being redeemed and had thought of several ways to either capture or kill him before he could betray the village or my brother. Of course, all of these plans were ruined by one simple fact. Sasuke was 'the last Uchiha', his death or kidnapping wouldn't just blow over.

"Now that the team assignments are through, I want to wish you all the best and remind you all that my door is _always_ open. I look forward to working with each of you in the future." Iruka gave us all a broad smile as the lunch bell rang and students were instantly shuffling out the door to head outside. I waited for everyone else to leave the room and then approached Iruka.

"Sensei, I noticed that you didn't call my name or announce my team." I wasn't sure who had been told about my pending ANBU status, so I decided to play it safe and assume nobody knew. Iruka's smile vanished and his expression darkened. This did not bode well.

"Well, Mikan, your case is special. The Hokage has decided to do something different with you. It is completely within your rights to decline this offer and be placed in the Genin reserves or sign up for medic training, or anything else." He made it clear that he wanted me to refuse, but I already knew what was going on. I did my best imitation of a hesitant nod and tried to place a nervous school-girl look on my face. I didn't think I was doing very well, but he seemed to buy it.

"The Hokage has decided to invite you to join the ANBU black ops as an initiate. Normally, a ninja doesn't join the ANBU until they are at least a Chunin, but the Hokage has decided to work around that by placing you into an apprenticeship under a senior ANBU member and training you, instead of taking missions like the other Genin." I widened my eyes in an imitation of wonder and excitement. Iruka didn't seem to like my reaction. "This may all seem great, but I want you to keep in mind that being an ANBU is extremely dangerous, and there is a reason that you're supposed to be a Chunin before you join. Do not make this decision lightly, Mikan. Now, nobody is supposed to know the identity of an ANBU, so do not tell me what your decision is. Your ANBU instructor will take you aside and explain everything in more detail when the other Genin are meeting their instructors. Run along and join your classmates." I gave my sensei a nod and casually made my way outside, returning to working on my seal.

I became so engrossed in my work that I almost didn't catch notice the feeling of being watched. I did my best not to let on that I had noticed but my shoulders tensed slightly and I knew that I had given myself away. Still, I did not make myself obvious by searching frantically like any other Academy student would. I instead, made my way over to a random spot in the grassy training grounds that the students went to for lunch that was in clear view of the teacher on-duty and any other teacher that glanced out of their windows.

I could feel the presence in the trees, but was surprised to find another that came from closer to the school. Upon further inspection, I found that it was the Uchiha brat. When I made eye contact with him, he got up and marched his way over to me.

"I noticed that Iruka didn't assign you to a team. Is that headband a fake? Not good enough to make it onto a team? I suppose I should have known." I got the urge to wipe the condescending smirk off of his face, but suppressed it. Even if I looked like a normal kid to the rest of the world, I knew that I was really an adult, and what kind of adult can't take a little trash talk from a cocky brat like the Uchiha? Now that I looked at it objectively, it really was pathetic of him to even bother picking a fight with me. I could feel the curiosity rolling off of the presence in the trees, so I settled for emulating both my favorite and second favorite characters from the Manga.

I yawned loudly and then placed a bored 'Shikamaru-like' look on my face before pulling out a very worn copy of 'Tale of a Gutsy Ninja by Jiraiya of the Sannin', "You say something, Uchiha?" The amusement rolling off of the presence in the trees was distracting, but I was glad that whoever it was appreciated my efforts. It helped that Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji were all laughing. Sasuke's face reddened ever-so-slightly and he clenched a fist. Then, like magic, he composed himself and the condescending smirk spread across his face again.

"Fight me Uzumaki, unless you're too scared." I was tempted. Putting the Uchiha in his place in front of all of the other children would definitely be entertaining, but it all went back to the fact that our audiences, and my potential opponent, were all a bunch of children, aside from the lone presence in the trees that had returned to radiating curiosity. A fight right now would just be pointless, and if the presence was who I thought it was, then it would actually be worse than useless for me to succumb to his baiting.

"No Uchiha, I don't think I will fight you today. Unlike you, I have no need to prove myself to anyone, let alone our former classmates or yourself. Should you decide to remove the foot long stick from your ass and challenge me to a _friendly_ spar, I would gladly take you up on it, but until then, you can keep your challenges with the aforementioned stick where they belong. Wouldn't want it to get lonely, would we?" My brother and his friends all looked like they were going to die of suffocation and the amusement coming from the trees was almost as unbearable as the endless paperwork that accompanied the position of Hokage.

After a brief pause, to soak in the Uchiha's reaction, I stood, brushed off my pants, and walked back towards the school with my book in hand. Most of the students were dumbstruck, but easily moved out of the way for me, and the Uchiha was seething. I must have imagined it, but I thought I actually saw steam coming from his ears.

The bell rang as I reentered the building and I took my seat just as the other students were making their way inside. Iruka didn't say anything to the students as they chattered loudly, he actually was trying to subtly glance at me, badly I might add. I made eye contact with him and quirked a single eye brow. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, I assumed to call me over to him, when the door opened and two people in Jonin vests entered the room. All of the students went eerily silent and turned to face the newcomers.

The first one I noticed was a woman in standard Jonin attire, black pants, black ninja sandals, navy-blue shirt, Jonin vest, with long, curly black hair and intense ruby colored eyes. The second person to enter was also wearing standard Jonin attire, his features reminded me of someone but I couldn't put my finger on who, the only noticeable difference between his attire and his female counterpart's was the white sash hanging from his waist, this, I knew, signified that he was, at some point, part of the 'Thirteen Guardian Ninjas' the Daimyo's bodyguards.

The woman announced herself first, "I am Kurenai Yuhi, Jonin instructor of Team 8." She looked around the room expectantly, and then snapped her gaze onto the three students that got up. Hinata Hyuuga looked as shy and timid as ever, she made her way over to her future instructor behind her fellow Genin-to-be. Kiba Inuzuka looked confident and borderline arrogant, at least his dog, Akamaru, was alright. Shino Aburame was unreadable, just like all of the other Aburame I had seen.

The three children and one ninja made their way out of the classroom and the male finally spoke up, "Asuma Sarutobi, Team 10" He looked rather lazy and his curt statement of four words did nothing to belie that assumption. At least he had something in common with one of his students; Shikamaru looked just as bored and tired as ever. Choji just happily munched on his chips and followed Shikamaru. Ino, even though she complained the whole way there, made her way to her new instructor with a bounce in her step and a radiant smile on her face. As much as she said to the contrary, Ino was happy to be placed on a team with her childhood friends.

The rest of the students slowly filtered out of the classroom with their instructors. I didn't pay much attention to them because I already knew who was going to pass. Eventually it was just Sasuke, who was glaring daggers at me, Sakura, who was fawning over the Uchiha, my brother, who wouldn't stop bothering me, and myself, who was trying to work on her sealing project. After a good couple minutes I realized that my brother was not going to leave me be, so I snapped my book closed and returned it to the kunai pouch on my thigh.

"Are you happy now, Dork? You know I've been working on that project for weeks, you'd think my brother, of all people, would understand how volatile an unfinished seal is…" Naruto adopted a sheepish look at this and rubbed the back of his head. Of course, the Uchiha couldn't keep his two-sense out of a conversation that clearly didn't have anything to do with him.

"Hmph, can't be that hard if you're doing it, Uzumaki." There he goes with the stupid smirk and antagonistic words. I decided not to take his bait for now. He still wasn't worth it.

"Really Uchiha? This isn't hard? Please, explain to me all of the properties of light and describe a way for me to bend light through the use of seals that won't cause an explosion the size of the hokage monument." I gave him a moment to think of something. I knew he wouldn't be able to, the Uchiha didn't know anything about sealing except how to open a storage scroll or apply an explosive tag.

"Why would I want to do that? Sealing is so useless that it isn't worthy of an Uchiha. Of course, I suppose it'd be good for you Uzumaki's due to your lack of talent in every other ninja art." I sighed and shook my head. Was everything that left his mouth going to be stupid? I did not envy my brother for being on his team. He got an arrogant, lone-wolf, and a fluorescent-pink, cheerleader. Oh joy of joys.

"Yeah, Mikan, you two could never stand up to Sasuke!" That girl… If I didn't know that she was eventually going to make something of herself… I really shouldn't start down that train of thought. I sighed again and opened my mouth to correct the error in their line of thinking, when the door opened once again.

A man stepped into the room, like the many ninjas before him he was wearing standard Jonin attire, with his headband slanted to cover his left eye and a book in his hands. The most obvious identifying mark on him was the gravity defying, silver hair.

The Jonin spoke up, "My first impression of you is… you're boring. Meet me on the roof in three minutes." He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I gave Naruto a hug and, after calling him a dork, I wished him luck, and then watched as he left with his teammates.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_The Jonin spoke up, "My first impression of you is… you're boring. Meet me on the roof in three minutes." He then disappeared in a puff of smoke._

_I gave Naruto a hug and, after calling him a dork, I wished him luck, and then watched as he left with his teammates._

**[Break]**

I hate to admit it, but even through all of my training in my past life, and the time spent waiting around in this one, I have retained a very annoying flaw. I am extremely impatient.

I very quickly got tired of waiting for my ANBU commander to show up and I couldn't focus enough through my irritation to work on my sealing project. This left me in quite the predicament. I could do one of two options: I could set up a prank to get back at my commander and make myself feel better, or I could go to the training area outside my classroom and take out my frustrations on the training posts. I thought about it for a good amount of time… less than five minutes… and then set out for the training ground.

I stopped a few feet away from the training posts and removed my orange jacket to fully reveal the dark-blue mesh shirt I wore beneath it, then began stretching.. Even if I was angry, there's no sense in hurting myself. After I finished stretching I began running through the katas they had taught me in the military, then the ones taught in the academy. By the time I had finished these I was working up quite a sweat, but I pushed through and then started on my own modified katas. These were a combination between my initial military katas and the academy taught ones. The work on combining them had been slow going, but what I accomplished was much better than either of them alone.

Half-way through the combined katas, I really should have come up with a name for them; I felt the presence from the trees again. I did my best to ignore them, they hadn't caused me harm yet and I didn't sense any killing intent in the area. It struck me that this may be my wayward commander, but I wondered why it is they were just sitting in the trees instead of alerting me to their presence. Well, I thought, no sense in waiting to find out. I stopped mid-kata but didn't turn to face them; instead I quickly pulled a kunai from the pouch on my waist.

"Come on out, I know you're there." I turned as I heard the rustling of leaves that signified their entrance into the training grounds. I kept my face in an emotionless mask and quickly took in their appearance. The ANBU wore the basic uniform with no alterations, his mask looked like some kind of cat, I assumed Tiger. I noticed the hilt of a standard-issue short blade sticking up over his left shoulder; this told me that he was likely left-handed. He had two Kunai holsters, one on each thigh, and four different pouches on his waist. He walked with an economy of motion that told me he was excellent at Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, or both. He stopped about fifteen feet from me and stared. I met his stare with one of my own and straightened slightly. Finally, he spoke.

"I am to be your commander, you will call me Tiger. You will follow my every instruction; failure to comply will lead to your expulsion from the ANBU system before you even get started. I have trained some of the best ANBU this village will ever see, and I do not train those who are not loyal enough to Konoha to put it before everything in their lives. I do not enjoy wasting my time and I do not have to be here, so put all of your effort into what I have to teach and we'll get along just fine. Understood?" His tone told me that he was used to being in a position of authority and that he would accept no less than my best. I snapped to attention and gave him a salute.

"Yes sir, thank you sir!" I shouted, before lowering my hand back to a fist at my side. He gave me a nod, then promptly turned on his heal and began walking back into the forest. He motioned with his hand for me to follow him.

**[Break]**

We walked for quite some time, and I had no idea where we were going, but eventually I began to recognize my surroundings. Shortly after I started to realize where we were, we walked out of the trees and into the area that I captured Mizuki at. He turned to me when we were at the center of the clearing and I stopped about ten feet from him. He gave no noticeable sign that he was about to move, but before I even knew what was happening there was a flash of pain in my chest and my feet left the ground. I hit the ground hard and didn't have time to realize what was going on before my instincts took over and I rolled away from the heel that was coming towards my face.

I rolled away from Tiger and up onto my feet. He just attacked me! What the hell?! He punched at me again and I successfully deflected it over my left shoulder, allowing me to enter his guard and punch him hard in the ribs, or at least, that's what I wanted to happen. In reality I deflected his punch only to fold over his knee as it collided with my stomach. The air left my lungs in a quite gasp. My brain was telling my arms and legs to make some distance, but they weren't listening, I could feel the disappointment rolling off of my would-be instructor. We couldn't have that, now could we?

He pushed me away and I stumbled slightly, but regained my breath and my stance.

"I expected more from you. You're supposed to be joining the ANBU? I don't know what Lord Hokage was thinking, you're definitely nothing special." I felt anger well up in my chest and my eyes narrowed. Nothing special?! How dare he?! I hadn't tried it yet, but there's no time like the present, right? I placed my hands in the single seal that my brother was supposed to become known for, and pumped as much chakra as I could into it.

"**Kage Bunshin no jutsu **_(Shadow clone technique)_**!"** I roared with all my anger and twenty clones popped up in clouds of smoke, I wasted quite a bit of chakra with that one, huh? Not quite as impressive as my brother, but it was something. The clones spread out in two circles, surrounding my commander. All of them, and me, took out two kunai and each circle rotated around me and my commander in opposite directions. I couldn't see his facial expression through the damned Tiger mask, but I assumed he was a bit surprised by all of the clones.

I took a deep breath, and then charged. The disappointment returned, but I had a plan. I threw the kunai in my right hand and he easily dodged, but I took a page from my father's book and seallessly performed the _Substitution technique_ with the kunai, throwing a punch as I appeared behind Tiger. I could tell that it caught him off guard, but he recovered admirably and threw me over his shoulder. One of my clones threw another kunai and I turned my forward momentum into a rolling dropkick while simultaneously substituting with the thrown kunai. The commander obviously knew what was going on now and this trick was really only working as a way to keep him from hitting me. The kunai were flying enough for me to substitute once every second. The first circle was out of kunai so they all rushed in and I substituted with one of the kunai near the outer circle. I watched and attempted to make a new strategy while the inner circle rushed to buy me some time.

The commander didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat; he quickly and efficiently popped every clone and made it look easy the whole time.

Finally, the last clone popped. I was sweating profusely and red-faced. My shoulders heaved with the force of each inhale and release of tension that came with each exhale, while my commander looked like he was sleeping behind that stupid whiskered mask. A growling sound filled the clearing and it wasn't until later that I realized the sound had been made by me. I pulled out more kunai with seals wrapped around their handles and began hurling them at him, along with the second circle of clones. I watched as he predicted the trajectory of each kunai and began moving to dodge, it brought a smirk to my face when I brought my hands into the _Ram_ hand-seal and yelled "**Fuin **_(Seal)_**!**"

All of the kunai turned blurry and looked to be in three or four places at once. My commander looked confused for a moment then, instead of trying to dodge, substituted with one of the kunai now strewn about the clearing. I seethed.

"I'll admit that seal tripped me up for a moment, but you have to remember that most ninja don't rely solely on their vision." I took a calming breath, and then nodded. My clones rushed at him once again. While he was occupied with the clones I began pulling hand sized orbs of metal from the pouch on my left hip. All of the orbs had seals engraved onto them instead of written in ink. I smiled; this was definitely my best creation so far.

My last shadow clone was popped by Tiger and he was turning to face me. I poured a decent amount of chakra into the orb and hurled it at the ANBU. He watched it for a moment and I wondered, briefly, why he wasn't moving away. The orb struck the ground right in front of him and then exploded violently in a shower of metal and flames. The smoke cleared quickly and I was surprised and worried that I didn't see and lumps of steaming and crispy flesh or brain matter, then it struck me that he was an ANBU. I searched my surroundings for him, but could not find him. As I turned back to where the explosion had happened I barely heard the rustling of clothing, but it was too late.

I found myself face down in the grass with one arm wrenched into my commanders hold and a foot pressing down on my back.

"Your performance was sub-par and your awareness of your surroundings is pathetic. It's going to be a real pain in the ass to get you barely good enough to be an ANBU, let alone a _good_ ANBU." The words hurt, even though I was telling myself that his opinion of my skills didn't matter. I grit my teeth as he ground his heel into my back and pulled my arm just a little tighter, "What? Nothing to say to that? Where'd all that anger go, huh?" I wasn't sure what he was getting at, but I'd been in this position a 'million' times before, and it just got worse whenever I talked back. I just grit my teeth and took it, "Well, looks like the fiery tempered fox has some discipline." He let go of my arm and I quickly got up from the ground. I didn't give him the pleasure of seeing how angry I was, so I put on my emotionless mask and stood at attention in front of him.

"I told you before this that I expect _nothing _less than your best. If what you've shown me is your best then we have a lot of work to do. You are going to go home and arrange to be out of the village for 1 month. During that time, you will be with me in a secluded training ground outside the village where I will do_ my_ best to make you something more than pathetic. You got that, maggot?" I took a deep breath to calm myself and opened my mouth to speak.

"Ye-" The air suddenly left my lungs and spittle flew from my mouth due to the fist currently buried in my gut.

"No hesitation, maggot. I ask you a question and you answer instantly, got it?" He stepped back and pinned me with a raptor gaze through his mask. I quickly filled my lungs with air while righting myself and shouted.

"SIR, YES SIR!" I bellowed and he gave me an approving nod.

"Go say your goodbyes and whatever else you have to do. I expect you to be back at this exact spot at 5 am sharp." His voice had gone back to a 'do what I say, or else' tone and he dismissed me with a wave of his hand before disappearing.

**[Break]**

As soon as my commander had left I stretched out with my senses, and upon finding nobody I let out a heavy sigh and rolled my shoulder. I hurt in places that this body had never felt pain in before. I made my way, slowly, to my and my brother's apartment. As I entered the building I saw my brother laid out on the couch and snoring slightly. I took a moment to admire his sleeping form and wonder at how cute he was even though I knew he was a brat. His breathing changed abruptly, his eyes opened slowly and locked with mine. He must have noticed my staring. He sat up and patted the spot next to him on the couch, offering a seat to me. I happily took it and sank into the couch.

"How did team training go?" I watched him shrug and noticed the marks on his wrists that told me he had been tied with ninja-wire, and not loosely. I grabbed his forearm and brought his wrist to where I could inspect it closer before I stared at him and gave him a look that said 'lie to me and you're dead'. He shrugged again and looked away. I rolled my eyes, I already knew what had happened anyway. I let his arm go and showed him my own. I swiftly unsealed our inheritance from my wrist seal and we each took one scroll, leaving our father's note on the table.

I opened mine first, revealing it to be the list of jutsu that our father had mentioned, I placed this one on the table next to the note. In Naruto's hands was the Uzumaki clan history, all sealed into different, and labeled, storage seals according to time period. We had both noticed that the contents of the third scroll hadn't been mentioned in our father's letter, he had just said that the first two scrolls contained jutsu and history. Our father _did_ mention a letter from our mother, but he had also said "probably", as if it wasn't a certainty. Naruto hesitantly opened the third scroll.

In the scroll was another seal that took up the entire paper, and I could tell that it was in a condensed form. This told me that it was far more complex than the average exploding tag, which only took up a small slip of paper in its condensed form. I took the scroll from my brother and studied the seal closely. It seemed to be a storage seal of some kind, but not one that contained anything physical, it also had a blood seal like the one in the hokage's office and… something I didn't recognize.

"Naruto, there are parts of this seal that I don't understand. I would understand if you didn't want to open this one tonight." I tore my eyes away from the interesting seal to look into my brother's eyes. The sparkling, cerulean gaze that met mine told me all I needed to know. I placed the scroll between us and we both bit our thumbs before smearing the blood across the seal and then pouring as much chakra into it as we could.

The seal began to morph and swirl until it took the form of the Uzumaki clan symbol. I could feel that we were close to unlocking the seal and when we finally did unlock it a voice that I had only heard in desperation spoke to us calmly.

"I, Uzumaki Kushina, have left a piece of my soul in this scroll as a means to ensure that the last of the Uzumaki does receive guidance in the ways of the Uzumaki and to initiate the rite of passage." After this was said a small red-headed figure, with a noticeably swelled belly, slowly materialized above the paper. She had her hands resting in some kind of hand-seal and was covered in inky seal marks that I didn't recognize. From what I could see, she was covered from head to toe in the black marks and she was completely naked. I imagine we both should have been embarrassed to see our own mother in this kind of state, but what she was saying was far too important for us to be distracted. Our mother's hands left the hand-seal and lowered to rest on the swelling of her belly. Her features softened and she looked straight ahead.

"Sorry, that may have sounded weird and you might be thinking that your old mom had a stick up her butt, or that she believed in all of this tradition phooey." She smiled and we both noticed the twinkle that entered her eye.

"As you've probably figured out by now, Mikan and Naruto, I am your mother. You can't see him because he's not covered in seals, but your father, Minato, is the one running this seal so I can initiate the rite of passage and leave a message for you both." She paused here and a pained look contorted her features.

"This isn't terribly comfortable so I'll have to be brief. I love you both and your father does too. I know he's already prepared a scroll with important things from us both, but I wanted to leave some motherly advice, that's the best kind you know?" Her smile returned at that and I did my best to ignore the lone tear that ran down my cheek. She looked indecisive for a moment, like she didn't know where to start.

"Oh! This is so hard. There are so many things to tell you two and so little time. I suppose we'll get the clan stuff out of the way first. After my message is over, my soul fragment will disperse in a burst of chakra that should link with yours and initiate the rite of passage. This is nothing to be afraid of. I know you two are sixteen now, or at least you should be." She glared out at us. "If you're not then The third will have quite a bit of explaining to do when he finally comes and joins us in the after-life, for that is where we must be if you're learning about this from a scroll instead of me and your father." She let out a sigh at this and looked a bit down-trodden.

"Anyway, you'll learn about the right of passage in the first of the books that your father left you. I do hope that you two will take to Sealing and carry on the legacy of our clan, but should you decide that those arts are not for you, I will understand. I just want you two to grow up happy and healthy. I suppose now would be the time to give the real motherly advice instead of the tradition stuff." She let out a sigh.

"This really is difficult. There are so many things I want to say, 'sorry' being one of the most important." She wiped a tear from her eye. "I love you both. Make sure you eat your vegetables. If you love ramen as much as your mother then know that it's not good for you and you can't eat it all of the time." She chuckled and stopped trying to wipe away the tears that were falling freely down her face. "Make sure that when you finally get around to marrying someone that you do it for love. Don't let the council, or the hokage, talk you into a loveless marriage. Love and protect each other, even if you don't get along all of the time. If you don't want to be ninja, that's alright, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Her image shimmered and a male voice could be heard.

"Kushina-Chan, I can't hold it any longer." At this she tensed and pain flashed across her face, before she straightened and put a broad smile on her face.

"I love you; a million times I love you! Don't ever give up. When you believe something, believe it with all your heart. Make us proud." The image shimmered and faded, and then the paper slowly disintegrated.

I threw my arms around Naruto's neck and sobbed into his shoulder. It amazed me how much the message affected me when I knew that the woman wasn't my actual mother. Of course, it could have just been the fact that anyone other than the older sister and nephew I left behind in my last life was actually bestowing any kind of love on me. It made me feel… warm, and fuzzy, and confident, but at the same time I wanted to curl up on a ball and cry until the pain in my chest and throat went away. This wonderful woman who believed so much in me and my new brother, who loved us unconditionally before she even _met_ us, was gone, and there was no way for me to get her back.

Naruto and I sat there for quite a while. I eventually stopped sobbing and we just sat quietly.

Eventually the silence became too much for me.

"I'm leaving, Naruto." I felt him turn to look at my face.

"Where are you going?" He seemed hesitant, almost scared.

"I'm leaving with my new sensei to train for a month. You won't miss me; you'll be too busy with missions and team training to even notice that I'm gone." He squeezed my shoulders with the single arm that was draped across them.

"Of course I'll miss you; you're my big sister and my only family. Why do you have to go for a whole month? It doesn't make sense. Everyone else is training here, in the village, where it's safe." I nodded against his shoulder.

"I'm doing special training because I'm on a team by myself. Don't slack off with your own training, I'll know, and if you do then I'll beat you to a pulp when I get back." I gave him the toothy grin that he was known for, he was the only one that ever saw mine.

"Well, if you insist. But if I'm going to keep up with my training _and_ do missions with the brats and Kakashi, then I'm going to need more ramen." I giggled at his goofiness. I knew he'd try to weasel more ramen money out of me. I kept ahold of all of our money in a secret place that not even he knew about. This was because Naruto was _awful_ with money. Sure, he knew how to look for the cheapest possible goods, but he would buy anything. Whatever struck his fancy is what he got. If I sent him out to get eggs and he decided he wanted cereal instead, then he'd pick it up without a thought.

"Well… I suppose we can afford a little extra." He let out a triumphant _whoop_ and pumped his fist in the air. I giggled.

"You're such a dork, Naruto. No wonder duck-ass calls you _idiot_ all the time." 'duck-ass' was none other than _the last Uchiha_, or in our case, the most disrespectful _jackass_ in the elemental nations. Naruto laughed and flopped back down on the couch. We bantered back and forth for a little while before it became clear that it was getting very late out. I sealed our inheritance scrolls back into my wrist and then made my way towards my room.

I flopped down onto my bed and stared dumbly at the ceiling. It'd been a while since I'd cried, in fact, I prided myself on not letting anything get to me. My commander back in my military days said that it was 'unnerving' to look at a new recruit who took to assassination as well as I did without any moral struggles. In reality, I spent the night curled up in a ball and sobbing after my first kill, but he didn't know that, and neither did anyone else.

I spent a long while just staring at the ceiling. Naruto joined me after a few hours, mumbling something about not being able to sleep. I wordlessly got under the covers and made room for him. I was definitely going to miss him while I was away, and it never hurts to have someone with you to help fight off the nightmares.

* * *

AN: This chapter could have been a whole lot better, and i'm sorry that it's so late. I struggled quite a bit with what I wanted Kushina to say to her kids, and I feel like that was just... bad. I would, obviously, like your opinions on what I could/should have done differently in any parts that seem to be... wrong, and they would be greatly appreciated.

I also struggled with the fight scene. I always struggle with fight scenes. I hear that Beta's are good for helping with things like that though, so I would like to put out there that i'm still looking for a beta.

I'll do my best to get the next one out in a timely fashion.

Thanks for reading,

Garfieldo the Goober


End file.
